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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Most of us now very well about the famous biscottis, a twice baked biscuits usually served with a cup of coffee, these biscuits are from Italy and i love these twice baked biscuits very much, eventhough i dont bake them often.For this month's Eggless Baking Group, Gayathri choosed this wonderful biscotti from Baking Obsession, i immediately tried making this biscott.I went for tutti frutti pieces instead of dried apricots and used quarter cup of pistachios instead of a cup of pistachios the original recipe went for. I replaced the eggs with yogurt and flaxseed meal else i followed everything as per the original recipe. We do get orange flower water here easily in Moroccon stores and i have already used them in my cooking here. We enjoyed thoroughly this fantastic biscuits and we simply loved it.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Sometimes i wish to start my day with a quick and healthy fresh bakes along with a cup of coffee, two days back i prepared this healthy oatmeal cookies with honey and chocolate chunks quickly for our breakfast. These cookies suits super prefect for busy morning breakfast, even more better for snacks, i enjoyed thoroughly having these healthy beauties. They are super chewy and extremely addictive and super healthy as i used both wheat flour and oatmeal for making these cookies.Instead of using chocolate chips, i used bittersweet chocolate bar and chopped them roughly as chocolate chunks. These cookies will definitely satisfy your tastebuds and you will realize that they are super addictive when somehow a dozen cookies have disappeared from the cooking rack.Sending this delicious cookies to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Finally i prepared my favourite steamed food string hopper with some leftover red rice flour, its been a while i want to make this idiyappams with red rice flour but somehow i couldnt able to make them. Yesterday i prepared this string hopper and enjoyed thoroughly with sugar and fresh grated coconut, definitely a quick,easy,healthy and definitely a filling food.

If you dont like to have with sugar and grated coconut, you can very well go for a stew or you can temper them simply with spices and enjoy it as a savoury version.You can very well start your day with this healthy steamed food or else you can have for dinner. But i love them for my snacks, sending to my own event Healthy Dish-Steamed Foods guest hosted by Jaleela of Cookbookjaleela.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Bhaji with prawns, thats a quick, easy as well as tasty appetizier,they are really simply addictive and prefect to serve while sudden guests visit your home..With simple ingredients, this prawn bhajis will be ready within few minutes.Kids will love them for the sure and definitely a real feast for sea food lovers like me.

Since two days, its raining like anything and obviously we love to have deep fried beauties, immediately i opened my freezer and thawed few prawns and prepared this super crispy prawn bhajis.Enjoyed having this crispy fritters for our yesterday's evening snacks with some coffee.Sending this crispy prawn fritters to Usha's Seafood Feast.

I do prepare quite often porridge with oats, but recently i tried a multigrain porridge with bulgar,quinoa,foxtail millet and rolled oats. For my surprise this mixed grains porridge turned out extremely fabulous,super filling and satisfying. This healthy porridge gets ready really very quickly as i used pressure cooker for preparing this breakfast healthy porridge.

While serving i drizzled honey and cinnamon powder, i enjoyed this porridge for my breakfast very much. You can also add more vegetables or else chopped fruits to this healthy porridge.This is our last day of blogging marathon, as i choosed this low fat breakfast this healthy multigrains porridge suits seriously super prefect to the theme i choosed to run for this week.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition here.

1/2cup Multigrains (bulgar,quinoa,rolled oats and foxtail millet)

1cup Low fat milk

1cup Water

Honey (as per need)

Cinnamon powder

Bring boil the water in a pressure cooker,meanwhile wash the multigrains thoroughly and keep aside.

Now add the washed multigrains to the boiling water,cook upto a whistle.

Once the steam gets released, add the milk to the cooked porridge,stir well.

While serving, drizzle the honey as per need, springle the cinnamon powder and serve.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I love to add oats in my diet quite often, i can start my day easily with a bowl of oats porridge.Yep anything with oats will definitely satisfy my tastebuds completely.Two days back, i quickly prepared this healthy and super comforting sambhar bath quickly with rolled oats, cooked dal and with usual sambhar powder. I just went for tomatoes and onion instead of mixed veggies for making this sambhar bath, i enjoyed thoroughly this healthy and super filling oats sambhar bath for my breakfast.

As i told earlier,my theme for this week's blogging marathon is low fat breakfast, this oats sambhar bath suits prefectly for the theme. If you are bored of usual porridge,dosas or idlis with oats,give a try this super comforting food low fat breakfast.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition here.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Khaman dhokla is quite a famous Gujarati dish,this dhokla is prepared usually with gram flour and can be eaten for breakfast,as main dish , as side dish and also as snacks. I love this yummy spongy dhoklas with green chutney,usually i make this dhokla with gram flour,curd along with few spices. But this time for a change, as a healthy treat i went for making dhoklas with spinach puree. This palak dhokla came out extremely delicious, very light with wonderful spongy texture, obviously its a low caloric steamed food can be enjoyed anytime of the day.I served this healthy green dhoklas for our breakfast with spicy chutney, we simply enjoyed it thoroughly.

This week its our fourth week of blogging marathon, this week i choosed low fat breakfast as theme,obviously i'll be posting for the next two days healthy and delicious low fat breakfast.This healthy palak dhokla goes for low fat yoghurt and a teaspoon of oil for tempering, an excellent light food to kick start a day.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Two days back, it was raining like anything and obviously everyone at home want something crispy to munch for their snacks, so i quickly prepared this flavourful crispy murukkus. These crispy murukkus go for usual ingredients except ajwain aka omam seeds, yep these murukkus tastes almost like sev aka ompodi and also like murukku. An excellent snack to munch anytime of the day,definitely kids will simply love having this crispy murukku. Seriously ajwain gives a wonderful flavour to this murukku, am sending this crispy beauties to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

Soak the ajwain seeds in hot water for half an hour, then grind it as fine paste with the soaked water and keep aside.

Take the gram flour,red rice flour,fried gram flour,butter, sesame seeds, asafoetida powder and salt in a large bowl, mix everything for a while,now add ajwain water to turn them as soft and smooth dough..

Take the murukku press with your choice of nozzle,meanwhile heat the oil for deepfrying,squeeze out directly the murukku dough to the hot oil, fry until the bubbles gets off.

Drain the murukkus with paper towel,store them in an air tightened box.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Bought some fresh mango ginger pieces during my recent visit to Indian grocery. Back home i prepared thokku with it and this wonderful looking lemon rice with grated mango ginger aka manga inji or maa inji and cooked chickpeas. Its an excellent lunch box dish, gets ready very much easily and quite flavourful,obviously healthy too. This mango ginger is a family of ginger, they tastes like raw mango and looks almost like fresh turmeric.

Ususally we make some fingerlicking kuzhambu, thokku and pickle with this mango ginger, but i want to make something different thats y i went for a quick,easy breezy rice dish with it.This mango ginger have loads of medicinal values and its quite often used various forms in most of the cosmetics, beverages and pharmaceutical products.Sending this rice to my own event CWS-Chickpeas hosted by Kavi.

Now heat the oil and add all the ingredients from the list one by one for tempering except turmeric powder to the hot oil and fry until everything turns brown, add finally the turmeric powder, take care not to burn the turmeric powder.

Add this tempered spices to the rice,toss everything well until the rice and chickpeas gets well mixed.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Hope you all had a fabulous ganesh chathurthi celebrations, mine went well and we had a fantastic feast yesterday with our favourite foods. Coming to this yummy savoury balls, i prepared them quickly before yesterday's pooja, as i want something savoury for prasadams. This uppu kozhukattais take hardly less than half an hour to get ready and they tastes super delicious. Onions and chickpeas gives a wonderful flavour and taste to this easy breezy kozhukattais.With Ragi Paal Kozhukattais,Red Rice Ammini Kozhukattais and this onion chickpeas savoury balls we celebrated our favourite god Ganesha's birthday yesterday and enjoyed this healthy foods thoroughly..Sending to my own event Healthy Dish-Steamed Foods guest hosted by Jaleela of Cookbookjaleela,my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania and to Priti's Festive Food Ganesh Chaturthi.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

You dont have ice cream maker, you dont have enough time to prepare icecream before a day, you want to serve a quick and easy breezy icecream, if so this icecream is definitely for you. Actually, this recipe goes for frozen strawberries, sweetened condensed milk and chilled milk, thats it. Your icecream is ready just with three ingredients, you just blend everything in a blender and your instant icecream is ready to relish.

You can make variety of this quick icecream with a variety of frozen berries or simply with frozen fruit chunks, you can mix and match as you desire and your quick eggless icecream are ready to serve. As you all know i choosed kid's delight-Anniversary special as this week's blogging marathon, am posting this easy breezy,quick,instant and delicious strawberry icecream today,coz this icecream gets ready easily and quickly also they suits prefectly for a party menu or for a kid's get together. An excellent icecream to relish without any hesitation and it was big hit at home, my kids enjoyed relishing this icecream topped with some sugar pearls and corn flakes. Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.Sending this delicious icecream to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

2cups Frozen strawberries

1/2cup Sweetened condensed milk

1cup Chilled Milk

Take the frozen strawberries,sweetened condensed milk and chilled milk together in a blender, blend them slowly together as a smooth paste.

Serve immediately this instant icecream with sugar pearls and cornflakes.

Notes:

Indian mixies works out wonder for making this instant icecream, sometimes it will be hard to blend, just add chilled water or milk to grind.

Once blended,you can transfer this icecream to a stainless steel box and arrange them in freezer for later use.

You can serve this ice cream topped with candies, nuts or else simply with chocolate sauce.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

This year am celebrating this fabulous festival with healthy kozhukattais with ragi, actually i want to make some modaks but somehow i feel like making some paal kozhukattais with ragi flour..Paal kozhukattai can be prepared either with milk,coconut milk and sugar or else with jaggery syrup and coconut milk..This time i went for jaggery syrup and coconut milk, this healthy ragi paal kozhukattais turned out super delicious.

For my surprise even my kids enjoyed thoroughly this healthy delicious cute dumplings,personally i felt really happy to see my ragi paal kozhukattais vanished very much quickly.These kozhukattais can be served chilled or warm,eventhough i love slightly warm kozhukattais..I prepared this kozhukattais with ragi flour combined with rice flour,even its time consuming its worth to make this fabulous delicious paal kozhukattais.Sending to Priti's Festive Food Ganesh Chaturthi.

Tomorrow is the most popular and famous Ganesh chathurthi, wish i live in India during this festival. Seriously am missing these festivals here, coz we dont have that much fun as we have in India, its a working day tomorrow to everyone and i'll be alone at home making foods and poojas. Coming to this cute looking red rice mani kozhukattais aka ammini kozhukattais, i prepared them yesterday to give a try with red rice flour,for my surprise they came out extremely delicious,tasty and prefect for the celebration. Give a try to this healthy and colourful steamed balls.

Usually ammini kozhukattai's or mani kozhukattai's are made out of leftover dough of the kozhukattais we make during this festivals.This is the most tastiest of the kozhukattais for me so i'll be waiting to make some mini kozhukattais with the leftover dough after every vinagayar chathurthi festival. Even its time consuming to make those mini balls, its really worth to try them.Sending to my own event Healthy Dish-Steamed Foods guest hosted by Jaleela of Cookbookjaleela and to Priti's Festive Food Ganesh Chaturthi.

Macarons is one of the famous and most popular small and sweet meringue based cookies like confectionary made with egg whites,almond powder, icing sugar and sugar with food colouring. I tasted my first macarons after a week i landed in Paris, it was more than 17years now. Obviously i want to make those addictive and irresistible macarons since a long. Here is my first macarons i tried few days back at home, i went through many sites to get an idea about making this cuties.

You doesnt need much experience in making them, just you have to follow exactly the measurements and macaronage where you will mix the almond powder and icing sugar mixture to the beaten egg whites, this part is very important for making macarons else your macarons wont get their feet properly.

My first trial turned out seriously prefect, just i couldnt able to get super prefect macarons as i didnt used macaron templates to get correct size, else my macarons was a big hit at home. Beware of these yummy confectionary, if you make them you wont keep urself away from them. As i choosed Kid's delight-Anniversary special for this week's blogging marathon, am posting this popular macarons coz my kids didnt stopped themselves having them.A fantastic confectionary to serve for a special occasions,definitely these macarons are kid's favourite anytime..Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.Sending this addictive macarons to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

Take the confectioner's sugar and almond flour in a food processor and pulse it until well combined, sift the mixture twice with the food colour and keep aside.

Whisk the whites with salt with a beater on medium speed until soft peaks form, reduce the speed to low and add the superfine sugar gradually.

Increase the speed to high and whisk until stiff peaks form (approximately 8 minutes). Add the flour-sugar mixture over the whites, fold until the mixture turns shiny and smooth (this is called macaronage, if you take the batter with a spatula, the batter of the macaron should fall like a ribbon)

Now transfer to a pastry bag filled with a plain round tip. Meanwhile line baking sheets over two baking trays, now pipe out small rounds with enough spaces between them on the line baking sheets, until the batter gets finished.

Tap the bottom of the baking try to the release the air from the piped batter and let them sit in room temperature for 30minutes to allow the skins to form(if you touch the top of the piped macarons, you can feel the top is hard and no batter will stick your finger)

Preheat the oven to 300F,bake the macarons for 20minutes, rotate the baking sheet half way for even baking, remover from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Ganache:
Bring boil the heavy cream,add immediately the chopped dark chocolate pieces,,mix well and until you get a shiny thick chocolate sauce, remove it from the flame.

Whisk for a while,now add the butter and mix well, arrange this ganache in fridge for atleast an hour.

Assembling the macarons:
Take a macaron,fill it with half a teaspoon of chocolate ganache and close it with an another macaron. Arrange them in a box and conserve it in fridge atleast for a day.

Enjoy with your favourite drink.

Notes:
Use always food colours in powder form or gel food colouring, dont use liquid food colouring, this will spoil the macaron batter.

Piped macaron should sit in room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Here starts again a week of blogging marathon, this week's theme is going to be Kid's delight-Anniversary special, actually Srivalli proposed this theme coz her Spice your life is celebrating its 4th blog anniversary. Congrats Srivalli, way to go. Wishing you many more beautiful years in this blogsphere. For the first day of blogging marathon, am posting this wonderful and very interesting masal vadas i prepared few days back for our snacks. Dont get shock on reading this post title,yep this vadas goes for cooked soya chunks aka meal maker with soaked and grounded chickpeas.

Actually i want to make some crispy vadas with soya chunks since a long, but finally i tried this vadas along with chickpeas instead of channadal, oh boy these crispy beauties are super addictive. Kids at home simply enjoyed having this yummy vadas and seriously we couldnt able to stop with one. They were super addictive, serve these vadas with a cup of tea for your snacks also as a starter.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.Sending this addictive crispy vadas to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party and to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania, to Priti's Festive Food Ganesh Chaturthi.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

As i told earlier for Baking Partner's Challenge, we got three cookie recipes to bake as we can choose and bake any cookies out of them. One among those three cookies i baked two cookies,i have already posted Cornflakes Cookies and here comes one more irresistible cookies i baked two days back for this baking partner's challenge. This ultimate chocolate cream cheese cookies was suggested by Tina of Pinay In Texas Cooking Corner from Food & Wine Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes Vol. 14. This fantastic cookies are fabulous and am damn sure you wont stop munching them if you make them at home. These cookies are truly awesome and definitely a real feast for chocoholic persons like me. Thanks to Tina and Swathi for suggesting this scrumptious cookies.Sending this yummy cookies to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a bowl ,beat together the butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the eggs, heavy cream and vanilla until blended. Slowly add the dry ingredients.

Add the melted chocolate and chocolate chips and beat just until incorporated.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Baking is a kind of timepass for me, so obviously i'll be always a part of any baking groups in this virtual world. Before two month's Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen launched an incredible group of home bakers,obviously am a part of it. We Baking Partners will be baking different bakes every month and will be posting every 15th of the month. Last month, we baked Reine de Saba, an fabulous cake of Julia child's as a tribute on her birthday, we enjoyed thoroughly and seriously am loving to be a part of this fantastic baking group. This month we baked some cookies, once we posted our last month's bake, i got a mail from Swathi asking me to share a cookies recipe from either a book or from a site. Immediately i went through my book shelf and choosed this irresistible super crunchy cornflakes cookies from Baking: Commonsense guide by Mudroch Books which i won before few years ago for participating in an event in this blogsphere.

Eventhough we have three different cookies recipes to try for this month's bakes, i choosed this cornflakes cookies suggested by me and cream cheese chocolate cookies suggested by Tina of Pinay In Texas Cooking Corner from Food & Wine Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes Vol. 14. I'll be posting soon those addictive and ultimate cream cheese chocolate cookies. Coming to this cornflakes cookies, they goes for very easy breezy preparation with cornflakes. This recipe is a keeper and i'll be making quite often as everyone at home simply enjoyed munching them.Sending this yummy cookies to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

Every part of India have their own style of flat breads with their authentic touch. I was eagerly waiting to try this besan ki masala rotis for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge choosed by Srivalli and finally prepared them last week for our dinner. Thanks to Valli for proposing this super interesting,flavourful and very delicious masala roti with gram flour and wheat flour for this month challenge eventhough i wanted to try the bajra aloo roti she choosed along with this masala roti. Valli choosed this fantastic besan ki masala roti from the famous Indian chef Sanjeev kapoor's space, obviously i know that this rotis will definitely tastes fabulous and its gonna be our favourite. I wasnt wrong, i prepared almost 6 rotis and they vanished super quickly, since this roti goes for a simple masala filling they dont even need any side dish to enjoy with. We simply loved these rotis.

2cups Gram flour

1cup Wheat flour

Salt

2tbsp Ghee

For masala filling:

2tsp Cumin powder

1tsp Coriander powder

1/2tsp Turmeric powder

1no Green chilli (chopped)

1/2tsp Dry mango powder

2tbsp Ghee

Salt

Combine all the spice powders given under the list 'masala filling' in a bowl with the ghee and salt as a paste.

Now take the gram flour,wheat flour,salt and ghee in a bowl, with enough water knead everything as a soft and stiff dough, keep aside for half an hour.

Divide the dough as eight portions and make a balls, roll them as a disc, spread the already prepared masala over the rolled disc.

Fold into half and then again in half to make a triangle. Roll out gently as a triangular roti, finish the remaining balls.

Heat a tawa, drop gently the roti,drizzle the ghee and cook on both side until they turns golden brown.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

I know how most of us will breaking our heads to come out a simple,quick and prefect lunch box dishes to our lil ones. But fortunately i dont need to pack foods for my lil one, instead of it i have to pack foods for my better half as he dont like to have his lunch in his office canteen. Obviously i have to cook almost everyday to pack him some healthy,quick,easy lunch dishes with veggies definitely. Two days back, i quickly prepared this yummy masala rice simply with bhindis and cooked channa aka chickpeas, trust me this combo works out wonder and my H happily carried this flavourful masala rice for his lunch and enjoyed thoroughly.Sending this delicious rice to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania.

Sometimes we doesnt need a fabulous spread of irresistible dishes to fulfil our craving for foods.Even a simple dal can satisfy your tastebuds,once a while i do dals with veggies just to feed easily everyone at home. Apart from me, none at home like stir fries with pumpkin so if i make stir fries, i have to finish them alone even my better half wont help me to finish pumpkin stir fry, i know when i bought a huge slice of pumpkin, i'll be making some pappu with them.

Yesterday i quickly prepared this super comforting pappu for our lunch and served with a spicy potato roast,everyone enjoyed having this easy breezy pappu,seriously this mildly sweet pappu is one of our recent family favourite. Sending this fingerlicking pappu to Kalyani's Magic Mingle.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Mostly i love instant versions of dosas or idlies,but sometimes i dont bother to soak lentils and dals to make non fermented dosas or idlis with them. My family love whole moongdal pesarattu, few days back i combined whole green grams,quinoa and white chickpeas together to make this nutritious and healthy pesarattu. Actually pesarattus is a famous Andhra savoury crepes prepared usually with yellow moongdal or whole moongdal with rice and few spices, these crepes are usually served with ginger chutney stuffed with upma.

My version of pesarattu here goes for white chickpeas,quinoa and rice along with whole green grams, this combination works out wonder and tastes absolutely incredible when served simply with spicy coconut chutney.If you want to give a twist to your usual pesarattus give a try to this version.Sending this pesarattus to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania.

Usually we dont have rice for our dinner, so i need to make simple foods like rotis,salads,sandwiches or soups. As sunday lunch was bit rich with meats and all, i finished my dinner with some simple chappathis along with this incredible channa masala. Actually my daughter love anything with channa, she kindly requested me to make some channa masala with paneer, but i added some eggplants cubes along with paneer and cooked channa to make this channa masala as i was bit curious to know how baingan will taste in channa masala.

Trust me, you wont get disappointed with this channa masala dish,yep this combo rocks. With simple rotis, this yummy chole tastes marvellous and we enjoyed thoroughly our dinner.This is my third post for this week's blogging marathon, as my theme of this week's goes for delicious dals. Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition here.Sending this chole to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

My second post with dals for this blogging marathon goes for this quick and easy breezy zucchini channadal, this dal goes awesome simply along with rice as well as side dish for rotis. This zucchini and channadal based gravy goes for a quick preparation as the whole cooking process goes for pressure cooking.Am showcasing today channadal as i choosed delicious dals as theme for this week's blogging marathon.Simple dal will definitely satisfy your tastebuds and tastes even more delicious when served with some toasted breads, yep i love this kind of thick dal for my dinner simply with toasted bread slices,if you are like me this dal is for you.Check out the other bloggers running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

Monday, September 10, 2012

I try to include lentils and dals twice a week in our menu either as curries,sundals or else as dal based dosas. When i saw the themes for this 20th edition of blogging marathon, i went immediately to two interesting themes for the first two weeks eventhough my themes for third and fourth weeks are also gonna be very interesting this themes.For the first week, i choosed cooking with onions and this week's theme is gonna be delicious dals, the main aim of this week's theme is to showcase a dal or lentils. My today's post, i choosed whole green grams and cooked along with snakegourd. This curry goes excellent as side dish for rotis or with a bowl of hot steaming rice and papads. Simply loved this healthy,nutritious and wholesome curry with our rotis for our dinner yesterday. Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

Heat oil in a kadai, fry the mustard seeds,urad dal,cumin seeds and dry red chillies until they turns brown, now add the finely chopped onions,curry leaves and ginger garlic paste,cook until raw smell goes away as well as the veggies get well cooked.

Add the snakegourd to the veggies,saute for few minutes.

Meanwhile grind the coconut and fennel seeds in a blender as fine paste with enough water.

Add the already cooked moongdal to the veggies with cooked water, also add the pav bhaji masala,coriander powder,bring them to boil.

Once the curry starts boiling,add the grounded spices to it and cook with lid closed until the snakegourd gets cooked well stir them occasionally.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Yesterday was our marriage anniversary, obviously i was quite busy in cooking,preparing cake and all. Usually i'll go for simple vanilla-yogurt based cakes for any celebrations at home, but nowadays i want to give a try to different cakes. I know i'll be making chocolate yogurt cake for the occasion, first i thought of making a buttercream frosting, but the weather here yesterday was too hot and felt like making something light and refreshing. Since i had some frozen strawberries i quickly went for making a strawberry mousse with low fat cream,condensed milk and agar agar powder.

I simply prepared a chocolate yogurt cake as usual for the cake and went for a delicious,super light mousse. Finally i decorated my cake with some chocolate pieces, i was really happy when everyone was surprised to see this celebration cake. I truly enjoyed making this cake and everyone at home simply relished each and every spoon of this yummy cake.

An excellent cake for celebration, eventhough the recipe seems to be long its quite easier and totally yummy when compared to the cream frosted cakes. You can also go for raspberries or else even for a chocolate mousse if you dont fruit mousse.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Are you really bored of usual chutneys,kurmas and sambars to serve along with your soft idlies or crispy dosas?? You should give a try to this super flavourful chettinad famous vengaya kose. Vengaya kose aka onion gravy is quite often prepared in every chettinad homes usually for breakfast to serve along with idlies or dosas. This simple but yet a delicious side dish goes for simple ingredients and gets ready very quickly. If you serve this side dish with idlies, am sure that you have to prepare more idlies than usual coz this vengaya kose will definitely pull everyone to eat more idlies.

2nos Onions (chopped lengthwise)

3nos Tomatoes (chopped finely)

1no Potato (large and diced thinly)

1no Green chilliy (slit opened)

1/2tsp Fennel seeds

1inch Cinnamon stick

Few curry leaves

Salt

Oil

To grind:

4nos Dry red chillies

2tbsp Fried channa dal/Pottukadalai or 5nos Cashews

3tbsp Grated coconut

1tsp Fennel seeds

1tbsp Poppy seeds

Grind the ingredients given under the list 'to grind' as fine paste with enough water and keep aside.

Heat enough oil,fry the fennel seeds and cinnamon stick until they turns brown,add immediately the slit opened green chilly,curry leaves, fry for few more minutes.

Add the sliced onions,chopped tomatoes, cook for few minutes until the onions and tomatoes gets cooked well.

Now add the diced potatoes to the veggies and cook for few more minutes.

Add the masala paste to the veggies,cook for few seconds. Finally add enough water, cook everything in medium flame until the gravy gets thicken.

Friday, September 7, 2012

I love biscottis and i wanted to make them since a long, somehow i couldnt able to make them often as i do with the cookies and cakes. Biscotti comes from a word biscoctus which means twice baked.They were baked twice to remove the moisture so that they can stay longer. Biscotti with a fabulous crunchy texture can stay prefect for more than a week if they are conserved properly, an incredible accompaniment to coffee or tea. Just dip them into the hot coffee and enjoy it. When i finally decided to make biscottis, i wanted to make them something with nuts and chocolates, so i used some unsweetened cocoa powder, nutella spread and silvered almonds in this biscotti. They turned out simply awesome with a wonderful nutty flavour in it.This delicious biscottis goes directly to Dorian's Only Nutella.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Canned foods, i avoid them as possible but sometime i get canned tuna fish for making fish cutlet and rarely this tuna puttu. While going through my recipe index, i noticed that i havent posted this tuna puttu, to be frank you just need canned tuna fish, chopped onions,ginger and garlic, few spice powders to make this easy breezy puttu. This puttu goes awesome as side dish with hot steaming rice and rasam. Sending this tuna puttu to Usha's Seafood Feast.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Nutella, my pantry will always have definitely a whole bottle of 850grms of this wonderful chocolate spread. My kids love to have this spread even everyday with their bread slices for their breakfast, but somehow i restrict them. Pull apart bread was is in my to do list since a long and today finally i decided to make them with nutella instead of usual cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Instead of making a large pull apart loaf, i choosed my mini loaf pan for making this mini nutella pull apart bread. I love baking breads myself at home,so that i can mix and match the ingredients as my mind goes for, today for making this bread, i halfed all purpose flour with Aashirvaad atta and prepared this somehow healthy pull apart bread. This is bread is definitely very easy to prepare and everyone at home enjoyed this mini pull apart bread for their snacks.This delicious and irresistible bread goes directly to Dorian's Only Nutella.

I have seen rarely peoples especially Indians says 'no' to super spicy potato roast with loads of onions, especially this kind of onion potato roast will have their important place in our lunch during festivals. I love this spicy onion potato roast with hot steaming rice topped with ghee and sambhar. Eventhough i have varieties of potato roast, this baby potato and onion roast was somewat different from them, coz of the spice powder is specially prepared for it.

Usually i'll go for chilly powder, fennel powder and coriander powder with cushed garlic cloves, for making this onion baby potato roast, i prepared myself a spice powder with few spices instead of using already prepared spice powder. Since i choosed cooking with onions for this week's blogging marathon, i used red onions for making this fingerlicking potato roast,check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Flaky,savoury scallion pancakes are very much famous here in Chinese restaurants,but somehow i never wanted to taste them there, coz they looks exactly like our maida parottas. This pan fried bread goes for simple preparation and they are really easy to make at home. As i choosed cooking with onions as this week's blogging marathon, i used scallions aka green spring onions for making this super delicious pancakes. In case if you dont have spring onions, you can used shallots also yellow or red onions for making this pancakes. So may use even garlic chives for making this pancakes, so the choice is yours to mix and match according to your tastebuds.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

Monday, September 3, 2012

I was planning to make this super fingerlicking famous Kerala's ulli theeyal since a long, when Srivalli announced this month's blogging marathon themes, she proposed a variety of very interesting themes as usual. While going through her themes, i know i'll go immediately to the theme 'cooking with onions'. Coz i cant imagine cooking my foods without onions, my onion basket will always have white onions,shallots and also i'll get quite often spring onions from farmer's market. So the next three days will be dishes with onions as star ingredient for this week of blogging marathon.

Theeyal is a typical Kerala dish prepared with a roasted coconut and few spices by roasting the coconut until it turns golden brown. Actually theeyal means burnt dish, its quite a long i wanted to make this ulli theeyal. Recently i picked shallots just to make this famous ulli theeyal and oh god i dont have words to explain how tasty this fingerlicking gravy is. Serve this gravy with rice and papads, i can have this yummy gravy even everyday.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

Heat a teaspoon of oil, roast the grated coconut in medium flame, stir continously and roast until its turns dark brown, add the coriander seeds, dry red chillies to the roasted coconut and fry until the spices gets well roasted.

Take this roasted coconut and spices in a mixie jar,grind as fine paste with enough water and keep aside.

Heat the oil,saute the shallots for few minutes, add the tamarind extract,turmeric powder, salt and curry leaves and cook until the shallots turns tender.

Now add this already grounded paste and cook everything for few minutes, dont let it boil and put off the stove.

Heat oil for tempering, fry the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and broken chillies until brown, remove the tempered spices and add to the cooked theeyal.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

When Kalyani announced this month's Magic mingle's magic ingredients pumpkin and chillies, initially i want to go for a simple dal based curry or a stir fry. But finally i decided to make a fantastic flavourful,spicy and super cheesy focaccia with frozen pumpkin chunks. Usually when its peak season of pumpkin here, i'll get them and back home, i'll clean them immediately and chop them as small cubes, i'll freeze them in individual ziplock bags for further use. This method is quite handy, very useful whenever you feel like making dishes like soups,curries or simple stir fries with them.

I quickly pressure cooked those frozen pumpkin chunks without water upto 3whistles and used them in this focaccia by mashing with my fingers instead of grinding as fine puree. I spiced this super colourful focaccia with chopped red chillies, few crushed garlic cloves, chopped coriander leaves and topped with grated cheese. Needless to say this cheesy flavourful focaccia vanished very much easily and we enjoyed having them simply with grilled meats and salad for our dinner.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

I tasted this wonderful rich looking gravy recently in a friend's birthday party,she said that she learned it from her friend's mom.This delicious curry suits prefectly as side dish for a mild spicy ghee rice and super prefect with rotis and pooris, we enjoyed thoroughly this curry with ghee rice.

Before leaving her home i asked her for the recipe and she was kind enough to give me the list of ingredients and explained very well the cooking process. To be honest, i thought that this curry will go for a long cooking process, but while making i noticed that they gets ready very much less than half an hour if all your ingredients are ready. Its such a fingerlicking curry am damn sure that whoever loves eggplant will make it quite often.